Hong Kong International Track Cup: Malaysia’s Azizulhasni Awang backs heir apparent after sprint and keirin double
- Double Olympic medallist, set to retire after the Paris Games next year, tips Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom to ‘take up my legacy’
- Azizul wins sprint and keirin on return to Hong Kong Velodrome, where he won World Championships gold in 2017
 - Mike Chan.jpeg?itok=EQbwYm3R&v=1669714688)
Azizul won twice, in the men’s sprint and keirin, on the opening day of the three-day Hong Kong International Track Cup on Friday, and for the former the 35-year-old had compatriot Shah Firdaus, who won bronze, standing next to him on the podium.
“I need not worry about my retirement, because Sahrom will take up my legacy,” Azizul said.
“We do have a few more [coming up], but he’s the only one at the world level now. Sahrom has won medals at the Asian Championship as well as the Commonwealth Games last year – he’s up at the world standard.
“The rest are still one or two steps behind, [but] hopefully we have our next champion already.”
Two-time Olympic medallist Azizul, who won silver and bronze respectively in the keirin at the Tokyo and Rio Games, has form at Hong Kong Velodrome: he won the keirin there to claim his only global title, at the 2017 UCI Track Cycling World Championships.
On Friday, he defeated Taiwan’s Kang Shih-feng in back-to-back races in the sprint final, before adding another victory, also over Taiwan’s Kang, in the keirin, with Sergey Ponomaryov of Kazakhstan finishing third.
Shah Firdaus, meanwhile, recorded two straight wins over Kang Seojun of South Korea to take sprint bronze. He also made it to the keirin final.
Following the event in Hong Kong, the master and the apprentice will compete on home soil at the Asian Track Championship from June 14 to 19.
That will be followed by the World Championships in Glasgow in August, the Asian Games in Hangzhou in September, and perhaps the final stop for Azizul’s illustrious career, in Paris.
“All these competitions will be my last dance,” Azizul said. “I got three medals from the last Asian Games in Jakarta but I am only doing individual events this time. I hope I can get at least one gold.”
The seven-time world medallist also shed light on his post-retirement life, and he had the next generation of riders firmly on his mind.
“I may do some keirin races in Japan for fun,” he said. “I have a lot of knowledge and experience but I don’t see myself just becoming a coach.
Malaysia’s storytelling cyclist Azizulhasni tells tales of being ‘crazy’ and as tall as ‘Thor’
“Perhaps I will open an academy and help youngsters, and also recruit young coaches because we don’t have enough coaches in Malaysia. Hopefully, I can help grow more cyclists, not just in Malaysia but also in Asia.”
In the women’s event, Nurul Izzah Izzati Mohd Asri of Malaysia outpaced Park Jihae of South Korea to win the sprint, and Kim Haeun, also of South Korea, took third against Malaysia’s Anis Amira Rosidi.
Former world silver medallist Lee Hye-jin of South Korea later won the keirin.
